Stitched Together

Chapter Four
The New Guy
Doll was prepared. Well, as prepared as someone could be when their going to willingly walk into the wolf’s cave. She felt more than ready to pay Mr. Vance a visit. Doll was glowing with eagerness. I had been weeks since she woke up in the ally way. In that time she readied herself to face Vance and to master the skills that would make Gotham fear her. She had removed the wire and thread that had been sewn into her and now she had severe scaring on the top and bottom of her mouth and around her face as a reminder of Allison's mistake.

Doll quickly found Williams whereabouts. He moved around after the cops got his address and other personal information, curtsey of Violet. He was laying low for the time being. He was currently inside a vacant warehouse meeting with his new hired men. Doll rolled her eyes when she saw the lone man guarding the door. She skipped over to him her black, leather oxford shoes clicking on the pavement, her black skirt bouncing in sync with her movements. It was slightly raining and she twirled her black umbrella around in her hand as she walked towards him. From far away she resembled a carefree child.

The man stood up straighter as she approached. Doll assumed he was trying to look more intimidating. It wasn’t working on Doll; she just smiled as she stood in front of him. She noticed right away that his eyes traveled to the scars all over her face. Her blue eyes stared at him curiously.

“Do you see something you like? Because I can assure you if the scars interest you so much I can give you some to match.” She threatened him still wearing a shinning smile. The man’s attention finally snapped to her eyes.

“What do you want little girl? You shouldn’t be wondering around you could get hurt.” The man told her as he tried to look even more frightening. She assumed he was new to this job.

“I could get hurt?” Doll giggled uncontrollably and held a hand to her side to calm herself down. The man looked startled at her outburst. After calming down she stepped closer to him. Standing upon the tips of her toes she spoke in his ear. “I don’t think there’s anything out here more dangerous than me.” She told him.

The man gave her a look. He wasn't sure if he should take her serious or just laugh at her and make her leave. She was tiny even for a woman and looked barely old enough to be considered legal, she didn't really look like she could hurt anyone. If it wasn't for the dangerous way her blue eyes twinkled at him and the confident smile on her face he might have actually laughed at her.

“Now, I need to see you’re uh boss. So you have two options.” She told him as she stepped back from him. She held up two fingers to emphasize her point. “Option number one is you open the door and let me in willingly without a fuss... or option two you refuse to let me in and I take this knife,” She pulled a switchblade from her coat pocket and held it up so he could see it. “And uh cut you up so you can have some pretty, little scars of you own to stare at… if you live that is.” She told him ending with shrug and a smile. “I personally like option two but it’s your choice.”

“What? Are you crazy or something? I can’t let you in there. I get killed if I did!” The man told her.

He obviously didn’t take option two or Doll herself very seriously. She stared at him with a dangerous glint in her bright blue eyes as her hand clenched the handle of the knife and she let her umbrella fall to the pavement carelessly.

“I’m not crazy. I worked out my issues, quite recently in fact.” She told him truthfully. “Now see there’s something you’re not getting. Either you let me in that door willingly or you’re going to die anyway. One way or another I’m going to see your boss. And boy are we going to have some fun.” She watched him with her right eyebrow raised. “Or there’s always option three I suppose.” She
suggested slowly as she twirled her blade in her hand.

“Option three?” The man asked dumbly.

“Yeah, you see option three is,” she stepped closer to him and with great speed and accuracy she ran the knife across his throat. The man dropped dead not long after. “Option three is I get sick of waiting and I just kill you anyway.” She told him as she stepped over to open the door and taking extra care to walk on top of the man’s chest.

Doll casually walked around the warehouse looking for Mr. Vance. She knew he had to be here somewhere. Finally she came to a large open area that had chairs and a large table in the center of it. Sitting around the table where five men and at the head of the table set the boss himself, Mr. Vance. Doll watched them as she casually leaned back on the wall behind her. It took only a minute for one of the men to notice her.

“What, Vance, did you hire us some entertainment or something?” A large, beardy man asked. He stared at Doll with a dangerous hunger in his eyes while the other men laughed. She smiled back at him while her blue eyes stared confidently at him.

“Well,” she drawled out slowly as she pushed herself off of the wall. “If the sight of torture, blood, and murder is entertaining to you then I guess I could be considered entertainment.” She told them with a small shrug as she stepped closer to the table. Mr. Vance stood up slowly from his chair as she stared at him with her head tilted to the side. It took a moment as he took in the sight of her but she finally saw his eyes light up in shock.

“Violet?” he asked confused.

“Close but not quite right.” She giggled. “Violet’s dead. But don’t worry you did me a favor. She was
starting to get annoying. No matter what she always wanted to be the good, little citizen. I tried to tell her it was going to get us into trouble but she wouldn’t listen. She just had to learn the hard way.”

“Violet, dead?” he muttered confused. “But you’re Violet.” He insisted.

“No,” she spoke slowly like someone would to a child. She walked around the table to stand uncomfortably close to him. “I’m Doll.” She gave him a large smile as she introduced herself with a tiny curtsey.

“You’re crazy!” He told her taking a step back away from her.

“No, you cured me!” she told him happily. “There’s only one person in my head now and that voice
is mine.” She explained to him as she took the slightly bloody switch blade from her coat pocket once again.

She heard the scraping of chairs against the floor as the men stood up around the table. She stepped up to Vance once again and he watched her hand that held the blade carefully. The room was unnaturally quite.

“Are you scared Vance?” She whispered in his ear as she firmly pressed the blade to his neck. She pressed just enough to penetrate the skin. She watched fascinated for a moment as a tiny drop of blood rolled down his neck. She turned her stare back to his face. “Are you scared that I’m going to do the same thing to you that you did to Violet? You’re a pretty sick man, Vance. I always knew you were a vile individual but you even surprised me.”

“What are you going to do um,” Vance started as he watched her movements closely.

“The names Doll.” She provided for him.

“Okay, what are you going to do to me Doll? Kill me? Do you really think that killing me is going to do you any good? You won’t get out of this warehouse alive if you did.” Vance threatened her with a smirk. He thought she had given up when she removed the blade from his throat. He fixed his posture so he towered of her.

“Do you really think I’m afraid to die?” She asked him staring straight into his eyes confidently. The next thing happened so quickly that no one had time to react quick enough to stop her. The only evidence of what happened was the scream that Vance let out as his hand went to cover the gaping hole in his stomach and the bloody blade in Doll’s hand. She quickly turned around and kicked the guy closest to her and swiped his gun that he was to slow to use. “I would just prefer to stay alive, thanks.” She told the limp body of Vance. She then turned to the men in the room. “I’m not new to the criminal world so I know that now that your boss is dead you’ll be looking for another job.” She told the four men that stood around the table and the guy on the ground who she was pointing the gun at. She watched them carefully for any sudden movement. “How would you like to work for me?” She asked with a grin.

“What makes you think we would want to work for a woman? A crazy one at that?” Ask the man who she now held his gun.

“Well,” she began and then shot him right in the chest. “First I’m not crazy. Second I know your guys type. You like money right?” She asked them with a nod of encouragement to them. No one responded but she continued on. “See I’m not really into this for the money. I just like the chaos that goes along with it. So any money we make you can do whatever your little hearts desire with it.” She told them with a careless shrug. She noticed she now had the last four men attention.

“And if we say no?” A younger man asked.

“Well, you can always join your friend and your ex-boss on the floor if you like,” Doll suggested. “So how about it huh? We got a deal?”

The men agreed for two reasons the money and they wanted to stay alive. Sadly for them they didn’t realize what they were agreeing to. Sure for a while the money was good and Doll kept true to her word. She honestly didn’t care about the money they got from robbing banks she just liked the disorder that it brought to Gothams' citizens.

Of course Doll was different than their last boss- he was all about the money. Doll wanted to cause
chaos and not all their jobs involved money. Her four original men didn’t last long. Eventually they
either messed up on a job or they stepped out of line. One by one they were done away with and a new henchman would replace him. A month after William Vance’s murder all the men who witnessed it had joined him. There was no one left that knew about Doll’s past and she quite liked it that way.

Seven Months Later

“Your not messing with me are you, Tanner? The pays really that good?” Asked a man in his early thirties to Tanner who stood in front of him.

“No, I'm not messing with you Johnny. It's good money.” Tanner told him.

“What's the catch? Do I got to do like some weird initiation shit or something? This sounds to good to be true man,” Johnny told his friend staring at him suspiciously.

Tanner had discretely talked about his boss and after getting in to some trouble Johnny wanted in. Now that he was here in 'the house' as Tanner told him that it was called he was starting to have doubts. 'The house' was not a house at all, it was actually an old abandoned theater in the outskirts of The Narrows. The place had been fixed up to work as a headquarters and a home for the boss and the henchmen if they had no place else to go; which was the case most of the time. The place was liveable and had working electricity and water but it was still a creepy place to walk into.

“Well, I'm not saying the job is easy.” Tanner told him. Johnny raised is eyebrows for him to continue. “Look, my boss is just kind of picky- wants the job done perfectly. No complaints, no mistakes or you know you're gone.” He told him with a shrug.

“Gone? Like he kills you if you say something wrong?” Johnny asked unbelieving.

“Okay, um first off it's she and uh yeah she won't hesitate to kill you. I think she actually rather enjoys it.” Tanner told him honestly.

“Wow! Wait a minute she- you're taking orders from some bitch?” he asked him. Tanner looked around making sure no one was around to hear his friends outburst. He let out a sigh when they appeared to be alone.

“Look man she's not like any other person I've ever met.” He stressed to him. “She doesn't care about the money she just really likes to piss people off. She pisses off the mob a lot, we rob their banks. She's good though, doesn't take shit from anyone. Just don't piss her off because she doesn't hesitate. She doesn't care about anyone and she doesn't really worry to much about safety. If you don't make it back from a job your on your own. She doesn't play hero so if you're caught she's done with you.” Tanner told him.

“Oh, and don't even think about selling her out to the cops or anyone else who wants her head, no matter how big the reward is, because she'll know before you're even thinking about doing it. I knew a guy once who sold her out to the mob. He uh went pretty badly as well as the men that came with him. She had set the whole HQ to explode. I still don't know how she knew. Just don't
get in her way and you'll be fine. I've lasted the longest that I know of. I've seen her go through a lot of men.” Tanner explained to him.
“She sounds crazy!” Johnny insisted to him.

“Oh and don't call her crazy. She doesn't like it. Goes off about how she's no longer crazy or somethin' like that. I don't really get it but I don't ask. That’s how you stay around. You don't ask question, you just do what she tells you.” Tanner warned him with a shrug of his shoulders.

“She still sounds crazy!” Johnny said again.

“You know, you've only been here for ten minutes and I already want to kill you. But don't worry I've killed worse,” a high pitched voice said from behind him. Johnny watched as Tanner shifted nervously when he heard the voice.

“Uh, boss this is the guy I was telling you about. This is Johnny.” Tanner told her.

“You spoke so highly of him. I'm a little disappointed but then again what should I except from a carjacker.” She told him as she walked out from behind Johnny and stood in between the two men. Johnny stared wide eyed at her.

Tanner wasn't kidding when he said she wasn't like anyone else. Her presence was enough to give someone the creeps. She was tiny- lean and a little short and her face had once been beautiful like a porcelain doll but now was marked with ugly scars around her mouth and eyes. She even went as far as making the scars even more noticeable by tracing them in black paint. Her bright blue eyes made him feel like she could see right through him, like she knew what he was thinking before he did. She wore a black, puffy skirt with a long sleeve blouse with a white bow-tie under a long black coat, maroon tights, and black, leather oxford shoes.

“How did you know I was a carjacker?” Johnny asked. Her eyes narrowed dangerously at him and he took a frightened step back away from her. He was starting to understand Tanner's warning. She might be a woman and small but she didn't seem like she would mind killing him right where he stood. If he had to venture a guess he would say she was holding back on actually killing him.

“How did you know that I needed a new employee?” She questioned back, her face brightened and her eyes sparkled. He was disturbed by her quick mood change.

“Um Tanner told me.” He answered unsure.

“There's your answer. Well, actually he just gave me your name but I got curious. He spoke so highly of you but to me you don't seem like much. I wonder if the rest of the boys will start betting on when you'll go.” She told him with a large smile. It would have been a pretty smile if not for her mutilated face. Johnny gulped and looked around the theater to distract himself from the unusual woman standing off to the side of him.

“So, boss are you willing to give him a chance? I'll teach him the ropes. I'm sure he'll be a good member for the team.” Tanner spoke up. Doll turned her gaze from Johnny on to him.

“Well, it can't hurt. I mean the worse thing that can happen is he messes up and then I get to kill him.” She told him with a careless shrug. “Boy that sure will be fun. The names Doll by the way but uh you call me boss.” She called out to them with a warning undertone as she walked away and up a flight of stairs.

Tanner sighed when she was finally gone. Johnny looked like he was about to wet himself. It made Tanner crack a smile. That went better then he expected it to.

“You did good.” Tanner commented.

“Good, she looked like she wanted to kill me!” Johnny told him.

“Yeah, that's how she is. She looks at me like that all the time. I told you if she really wanted you dead you would be.” Tanner reminded him. “Besides I think that's just how she looks at people. She doesn't have a high opinion on people.”

“Dude, why do you work for her? I mean there really has to be something wrong with her! Did you see her face?” Johnny ranted. Tanner shushed him as he looked up the stairs nervously.

“Saying things like that is a quick way to get yourself killed. Whatever you do don't say anything to her about her scars. You'll be dead in a second. Just talk to her receptively and do what she says. You'll be fine.” Tanner told him.